Awards Blog

How Different Awards Are Judged

by Predrag Vuckovic on 6th January 2017.

The number of business awards that can be entered is staggering. Presented with this myriad of choices, a regular company is undoubtedly left wondering: Even if we decide to enter some kind of awards event, whom should we choose and why?

After extensive research we have found that plenty of awards follow the same pattern of the judging/scoring process, which is quite substantial and credible. Some of those basic steps are in our own plan and program and are in the lack of a better term – irreplaceable.

However, Awards International strives for being transparent and as helpful as possible to our candidates, and we have found that providing the companies with the information that can improve their growth is a most rewarding experience. We intend to keep helping ‘our’ finalists and winners grow, even after the event they’ve entered has passed.

Without beating around the bush, and with due respect, here’s what we noticed differentiates our approach from other business awards’.

1) Transparency – Our scoring system is endorsed by Cranfield School of Management, and is there for all to see, providing clarity and confidence to everyone involved. We have an appropriate scoring system for each of our award events, and all the criteria are clear, objective and can be seen on our website for each of the respective categories.

2) The unique format of our events – We love keeping our contestants involved in the judging/winning process and the essential part of it consists of live presentations in front of the Independent Panel of Judges, in the morning, afternoon or evening. This experience is invaluable for us, as well as for the entrants who strive to learn from other companies, network, form potential partnerships and build their business strategy according to the latest standards. The presentations are followed by a Gala luncheon, lunch or dinner and the Awards ceremony.

3) Live judging system – our team of judges consists of a large number of independent business men and women who are professionals in their fields. The finalists make 15 minute presentations to the panel of judges and scores are generated from the written entry and the live presentations. Both are equally important for scoring.

4) All entrants benefit from the Awards – we are particularly proud about this aspect. Our judges give their professional, objective, unbiased assessment to everyone who participates in our events. All entrants receive feedback, all finalists receive clear benchmarked reports and all non-finalists receive a constructive written critique of their entry.

Since we have praised our scoring system so much, let us introduce you to its basics in a few words.

First, there are 7 criteria across all of the categories. Just keep this in mind as we go through the stages of the scoring process.

The scoring process itself can roughly be divided into 2 stages.

Stage 1: Short Listing

Short listing is done based on the written entry, focusing mainly on the summary. By the way, the summary is the first of the 7 judging criteria that we mentioned, but don’t burden yourself with this, for now.

The score that the entry gets from this stage is NOT carried forward but is merely used by the Short List Judging Panel to create the short list of finalists.

Stage 2: Judging Written Entries & Live Presentations

Only finalists enter this stage and both the written entries and live presentations carry 50% of the final score for all categories.

The 7 Criteria

As we already mentioned, there are 7 criteria across all of the categories.

Each criterion has 100 marks available and all 7 marks are taken into account during the short listing of finalists and for scoring written entries.

For finalist presentations only criteria 2-6 are taken into consideration.

So, what are these 7 criteria?

I – THE CASE FOR RECOGNITION

A few simple reasons why your entry should be considered
1) Summary – A short overview of your case, not longer than 200 words. It should clearly present the initiative that made your company worthy of recognition, and it should include elements of the other 6 criteria.

II – THE DRIVERS FOR CHANGE

What made you put an effort into changing?

2) Business Rationale and Context – This part should further explain the drivers, benefits and aims that provided the rationale and the context for the initiative.

III – THE CHANGE ACHIEVED

What was the result?

3) The Outstanding Customer Experience Delivered – The extraordinary result or change in customer experienced delivered.

4) Business Impact & The Results – How the change affected business performance and what were the results.